{"id":7186,"date":"2020-08-11T09:20:19","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T13:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7186"},"modified":"2020-09-02T09:23:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T13:23:58","slug":"native-mexicans-turn-inward-to-survive-covid-19-barricading-villages-and-growing-their-own-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7186","title":{"rendered":"Native Mexicans Turn Inward to Survive COVID-19, Barricading Villages and Growing Their Own Food"},"content":{"rendered":"
Zapotec farmers return from their \u2018milpa,\u2019 the garden plots that provide much of the communities\u2019 food, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Jeffrey H. Cohen, CC BY-SA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the coronavirus hammers Mexico<\/a>, some Indigenous communities in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca are finding creative ways to cope.<\/p>\n

Oaxaca, one of Mexico\u2019s poorest<\/a> and most ethnically diverse states, is home to numerous Indigenous communities, including the Zapotec people. I have spent many years in the central valleys of Oaxaca conducting anthropological research in rural Zapotec villages, documenting the people\u2019s lives<\/a>, migration patterns<\/a> and food culture<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, my summer research in Oaxaca canceled due to the pandemic, I am learning from afar how the Zapotec are confronting the coronavirus given such complicating factors as chronic poverty<\/a>, inadequate health care, limited internet, language barriers<\/a> and a lack of running water.<\/p>\n

Working with colleagues at Mexico\u2019s Universidad Tecnol\u00f3gica de los Valles Centrales de Oaxaca<\/a> and scouring online media resources, I find the Zapotec are surviving the pandemic by doing what they\u2019ve always done when the Mexican government can\u2019t, or won\u2019t, help them: drawing on local Indigenous traditions of cooperation, self-reliance and isolation.<\/p>\n

So far, it\u2019s working. While infections and death are rising relentlessly across Mexico<\/a>, many Indigenous communities in Oaxaca remain largely insulated from the coronavirus. The Indigenous Mixtec village of Santos Reyes Yucun\u00e1 reported its first infection on July 17<\/a>, for example \u2013 four months after COVID-19 reached Mexico.<\/p>\n

Indigenous survival strategies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cooperation<\/a> is a cornerstone of Zapotec life in Oaxaca. A history of social exclusion<\/a> by the federal government reminds the Zapotec not to rely on politicians<\/a> to save them.<\/p>\n

People work together from a young age, joining together in \u201ctequio,\u201d or communal labor brigades, to complete projects that can range from painting a school to repairing the electrical grid. Individuals, their families and their friends routinely work together to make small jobs go quickly and to make big jobs seem less overwhelming.<\/p>\n

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A Zapotec woman making tamales using locally grown maiz, or corn. Jeffrey H. Cohen, CC BY<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

The Zapotec also maintain relative isolation from broader Mexican society, my research shows<\/a>. They grow food in their \u201cmilpas,\u201d or garden plot, to supplement store-bought fare, and police their own communities with volunteers called \u201ctopiles.\u201d With high levels of community trust and a history of self-rule that predates the Spanish conquest, the Zapotec who continue to live in rural Oaxaca neither need nor allow much outside access to their villages.<\/p>\n

These three aspects of traditional Zapotec culture \u2013 cooperation, isolation and self-reliance \u2013 are all helpful in a pandemic.<\/p>\n

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Chapulines at a market. Jeffrey H. Cohen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

According to researcher M.C. Nydia Sanchez<\/a> of Oaxaca\u2019s Universidad Tecnol\u00f3gica, Zapotec families are sharing scarce resources like food, information, water and face masks in what\u2019s called \u201cguelaguetza,\u201d the practice of working together and gift-giving.<\/p>\n

And at a time when Mexico\u2019s food supply chain is under stress<\/a>, villagers are ensuring no one goes hungry by ramping up their crop of \u201cmaiz,\u201d the corn used to make tortillas.<\/p>\n

\u201cChapulines\u201d \u2013 grasshoppers harvested from the fields and quickly toasted over a fire \u2013 are returning to the table as a protein-rich alternative to expensive, store-bought meats that are no longer available locally.<\/p>\n

Consensus rules<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tight-knit nature of Zapotec communities can, however, also complicate other measures critical to limiting residents\u2019 exposure to infection.<\/p>\n

These are small villages of no more than a few thousand souls. Everyone knows everyone, and it is typical for Zapotec people to spend much of their day together with family and friends. This can make it difficult to maintain the social distancing recommended by national health officials<\/a>.<\/p>\n[You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.<\/em> Read The Conversation\u2019s newsletter<\/a>.]\n

\u201cTo no longer greet each other so much on the street [is difficult], because we are used to it,\u201d a Zapotec man named Jose Abel Bautista Gonzalez told Reuters in April<\/a>. \u201cIt is a tradition, the culture of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than closing their doors to family and friends, then, the Zapotec are aiming to stop COVID-19 from getting in at all.<\/p>\n

Across much of Oaxaca, villagers are building barricades made of chain, stones and wood to physically block access into and out of their communities, which are typically served by only one road. Many villages are effectively quarantined from society.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to set up these barriers so that visitors or outsiders wouldn\u2019t be coming in,\u201d Jos\u00e9 Manzano, of San Isidro del Palmar, told Global Press Journal on June 28<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Such decisions, like most Zapotec policies, are built upon community consensus<\/a> \u2013 not made on the order of a local or national political leader.<\/p>\n

Uncertain future<\/strong><\/p>\n

Indigenous Mexican communities are unlikely to escape unscathed from the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Mexico<\/a> is so far losing its battle with the economic effects of the coronavirus: Jobs are disappearing, and economists predict the national economy may contract by 8% this year<\/a>. Tourism, the lifeblood of Mexico\u2019s economy, has halted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That means hunger and a long recession that experts say will impact the rural poor disproportionately. Mexico\u2019s social development agency<\/a> estimates up to 10 million people may fall into extreme poverty, ending the country\u2019s nearly decade-long run of poverty reduction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And if the coronavirus does get into Zapotec communities, it will probably hit residents hard<\/a>. Their villages lack the running water, social distancing, mask supply and health care necessary to slow the spread of the disease.<\/p>\n

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An anti-cholera campaign for clean drinking water in Oaxaca. Jeffrey H. Cohen<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

The lack of potable water additionally increases the risk that intestinal problems like cholera, among other health conditions common<\/a> in rural Indigenous populations, will exacerbate the effects of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The Mexican government has committed<\/a> to build more rural hospitals, including in Oaxaca. But the virus moves faster than construction crews. The Zapotec\u2019s best bet<\/a>, they know, is still themselves.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey H. Cohen<\/a>, Professor of Anthropology, The Ohio State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the coronavirus hammers Mexico, some Indigenous communities in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca are finding creative ways to cope. Oaxaca, one of Mexico\u2019s poorest and most ethnically diverse states, is home to numerous Indigenous communities, including the Zapotec people. I have spent many years in the central valleys of Oaxaca conducting anthropological research…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":7384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/352041\/original\/file-20200810-18-1o44ij8.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C8%2C613%2C430&q=45&auto=format&w=926&fit=clip","fifu_image_alt":"Native Mexicans Turn Inward to Survive COVID-19, Barricading Villages and Growing Their Own Food","footnotes":""},"categories":[189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-borders-commerce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7188,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7186\/revisions\/7188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}